Gymming at work. A Telegraph picture

Abs training and butterfly to bolster the balance sheet. Treadmills and cross-trainers to propel Powerpoint presentations...

Working out at the workplace is in and corporate gymnasiums are springing up in new-age office environs of Calcutta. From Cognizant Technologies to TCS, Bharti Mobitel to Wipro, the magic mantra on campus is fitness, as the execs sweat it out in between high-stress assignments.

?In today?s world, people spend more time in office than with family. Time spent in office should have some quality in it. Quality should be both in terms of work and health,? says R. Ramgopal, deputy manager, Philips India Ltd, which has just added a gymnasium on the ground floor of its Heysham Road premises.

What are the prerequisites for an office gym? ?Space is the first criterion. For most organisations, 800 to1,000 sq ft is par for the course, but this can vary depending on the size of the building. While the Wipro gym in Salt Lake is quite big, the Philips facility is just about 600 sq ft,? says Gagan Sachdev, director, Bodyline Sports.

The fitness equipment provider on Ballygunge Circular Road has done corporate gyms at Cognizant, TCS, Bharti Mobitel and CATCG Software (all in Sector V, Salt Lake), and the Philips facility.

Equipment comes next. ?For corporate gyms, the emphasis is on cardiovascular equipment, as those serve the basic needs of fitness,? says Sachdev. Apart from the treadmills and cross-trainers, the steppers and exer-bikes are popular.

?A lot of attention is paid to acoustics, with special emphasis on floors not being noisy,? says Ritu Duggal who, along with Anisha Johri, designed BOC India?s gym in the Taratala office.

After sound, the stress is on sight. ?This is a place where employees come to relax and so it should be bright and cheery,? adds Duggal. The BOC gym, with mirrors galore, is dominated by colours blue, pink and purple.

A multi-station gym, on which four people can exercise simultaneously, is also popular with office gyms.

A new product now catching corporate fancy is the aqua rower, which gives the effect of rowing a boat.

?But how much time should I spend at each station?? asks Suhel Sampat, a 25-year-old IT professional with a gym at his workplace.

With employees spending an average of 30 minutes in the gym while at work, at least 20 minutes should be spent on the treadmill and another 10 minutes doing strength training, like the bench press, feels fitness consultant Anwar Wahab. He also advocates structured regimens that can be fitted into 20-minute or 10-minute cycles to utilise small breaks between work sessions.